A ton of people I know smoke weed and over the years I've heard a million people say, It's not bad, but then others say it's not a good idea to get into. What are the potential cons and dangers, and pros and benefits of smoking weed?
Suggestion:
There are no pros to doing something illegal – if you are caught you will face legal problems which could haunt you for the rest of your life. Maybe you will be unable to get a passport, or you will have to get a letter to carry with your passport when you travel explaining why you have a criminal conviction. My brother had to do this for years. He travels a lot for work and he had marijuana charges when he was younger. Every time he travelled to the States for work he had to show Immigration a letter that he carried with his passport explaining that he had this criminal conviction on his record. then it was up to the Immigration people whether or not to let him come into the country for his meetings. He was always scared to death that one day he would be refused entry and have to turn around and go home. Then he would have to explain to his boss why he wasn't at the annual meeting. It never happened to him, but that was before 9/11 – Immigration has much tougher boundaries now. Imagine yourself having to be worried every time you want to go somewhere. Maybe someone in your family will decide to get married in the Bahamas and you won't be able to go because of the criminal conviction – how embarrassing would that be to explain to your family? A lot of people think that pot is not harmful, but the experts don't agree. For one thing, it is smoking, and we all already know that smoking is one of the biggest causes of fatal lung and other cancers. Pot smoke is much more concentrated than cigarette smoke, so it's even more potent when it gets into your lungs. Also, it DOES alter your response time, although all your pot-smoking friends will tell you it doesn't. Police have tested pot users and their response times are just like drunk drivers response times. It makes you think and react slower, so if you're driving you run the risk of being in an accident because you couldn't put on your brakes in time. It's also known as a "gateway drug" – meaning that it is the first drug that many kids try and then they go on to harder stuff like ecstasy, cocaine, heroin, etc. Some people don't do this – they can smoke pot and never use other drugs. But many people think they had no problem smoking pot, so they won't have any problem if they have the occasional harder drug, and it isn't long before they end up addicted. If pot is ever legalized then you will have the choice to use it or not, just like alcohol. But for now it is illegal, so the consequences of that alone should stop you. Getting caught would cause you so many problems like the travel problems I outlined above. Also, almost every company now runs a criminal records check on potential employees – you have to sign an agreement to have your criminal record checked before a company will offer you a job. It's hard enough to get a job these days – you don't need a criminal record standing in your way as well. Many companies won't even look at someone with a criminal record – even if it was a small offense like being in possession of small amounts of weed. They just don't want to take a chance on someone with a record. It just isn't worth doing anything illegal, even if half the world believes it should not be illegal. Once pot is legalized, if it ever is, then you can smoke it without worrying about getting caught. But there are so many reasons NOT to start it, and absolutely NO reasons why you should start using it. You can enjoy life a lot more when you're straight – being stoned doesn't improve your life. And having to be scared all the time about getting caught or about having to live with a criminal record if you get caught, just isn't worth it.
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